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OPINION: Profiling Natasha As Segilola, Sweetheart Of 1001 Men

Published

8 months ago

April 6, 2025

By Festus Adedayo

Sorry, I digress. Gradually, the Nigerian presidency is putting finishing touches to its own sculpture of a village liar, Ìbídùn, it is busy carving. Or writing itself into the pathetic biblical story of an early Christian community in Jerusalem which witnessed a lying couple by the name, Ananias and Sapphira. Ìbídùn was the proverbial woman who, determined to make deception an art, walked close to a popular masquerader at the marketplace. Amidst the din of wild dances and celebration, Ìbídùn saluted the masquerader thus: “it has been quite a while!” In a masquerade cult shrouded in secrecy, where identity of the masquerader is hidden from everyone, male or female, except initiates, how did Ìbídùn know the personality shrouded under the agò (costume)? To capture Ìbídùn’s costly deception, my people say, “Èké Ìbídùn tií kí eégún kú àtijọ́”.

While the president junkets, off-the-cuff, to Paris like a chronic diabetic flying into the restroom, his Tańtólóhun dogs (Ref my piece, Obasanjo and Tinubu’s Tańtólóhun dogs, November 24, 2024) spin an embarrassingly deceptive refrain that he goes “on a working visit.” As this deception roulette is fast taking the toga of Ìbídùn’s lie, I have a cryptic projection for this uncritical lie: When the going goes, the come will end up coming. It is a literal lift from the Yoruba warning, “bí àlọ bá lọ, àbò nbọ wá bọ”. It warns of impending repercussions for the Ìbídùns. At a time when their home is burning, with more than 52 people reported dead in the recent Plateau State crisis, the president and his vice are trapped in the comfort of foreign lands.

I am back. Whether sponsored, contrived, deliberate or real, the discourses surrounding Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan since that space-induced altercation in the parliament broke out, would make you think you were in pre-colonial Nigeria. And Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, an incarnate of infamous 1930 sexual mascot, Segilola. Saheed Aderinto’s 2015 book, When sex threatened the state: Illicit sexuality, nationalism, and politics in colonial Nigeria (1900-1958) did justice to Segilola. According to him, one of the most detailed sexual narratives of that time could be found in the sexual memoir of Segilola, a Lagos prostitute. Written in Yoruba, its title was, Ìtàn Ìgbésí Aiyé Èmi Segilola El’ẹyinju Ẹgẹ, Elegberun Ọkọ L›aiyé. When translated into English, the book title reads, “The Life History of Me Segilola Endowed With Fascinating Eyes, the Sweetheart of a Thousand And One Men”. Advertised in the July 5, 1930 edition of the bi-lingual newspaper, Akéde Èkó (The Lagos Herald), the book, which British anthropologist, Karin Barber, called the first Yoruba novel, sold out during the period of its 30-chapter serialization in the newspaper. It became such a literary hot cake to gobble that it caused peer jealousy and rivalry between The Lagos Herald and the dominant newspaper of the time, The Nigerian Daily Times.

Born in September 1882, Segilola was a lady of noble parentage, sole survivor of her parents’ six children, who chose to commercialize her body for men’s sensual feast. From the time she lost her virginity to a herbalist whom she ran to for procurement of sex charm, Segilola courted men across generations. One of her lovers promised her pocket money of 10 pounds and another, between 1910s and 1920s, spent 30 pounds on her in three months. Knowingly or unknowingly, the adversaries of Akpoti-Uduaghan have attempted to cast her in the mould of Segilola. Her traducers sexualize her travails, belittle her courage and audacity, as well as her resistance to male chauvinism and the tyranny of her tormentors.

Akpoti-Uduaghan, like Segilola, is however an El’ẹyinju Ẹgẹ, in possession of a ravishing beauty. Her travails began as politics of space allocation on the floor of the Nigerian senate. Gradually, it transformed into sexual politics, reminding one of French historian, Michel Foucault’s discourse on sexuality. Foucault had submitted that there is a link between sex and relations of power. Today, the spat between this senator representing Kogi Central and president of the senate, Godswill Akpabio, has effectively polarized Nigerians along divides: gender, politics, etc.

Akpoti-Uduaghan is a prostitute. She appears on the floor of the Senate in transparent dresses. Senate is not a clubhouse. She has had four husbands and four children, so go the narratives. Even a newspaper, daily used as validation of federal power, did what it called an expose on the senator. With the title, “The Natasha we knew”, it lent assistance to Natasha’s adversaries in ill-sexualizing her, and positioning her as Segilola incarnate. This it did by excavating what it called her sexual past. The aim was to profile Natasha as a woman who has seen more men’s nakedness than an Ijaw fisherman can ever see shrimps. Or, as Cleopatra (70-30BC), Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. Cleopatra deployed her charm and bewitching beauty to seduce Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony, succeeded in having children for both.

On the social media, Akpoti-Uduaghan has further been profiled as possessing a feral ferociousness. Even Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe attempted to add a salacious dimension to the mix: “But the beauty of Distinguished Senator Natasha is a problem to her… there’s no doubt about that… when she’s passing, there’s no way a man will not look at that woman”, he said on a national television interview.

Contrariwise, Natasha is better suited for casting in the mould of Mekatilili wa Menza. Mekatilili was Kenya’s 19th century amazon, a precursor of Dedan Kimathi’s Mau Mau uprising heroism against British colonial imperialism. Mekatilili, like Natasha, suffered tar-brushes and profiling of the male gender and from even women of similar biology. As her Giriama people resisted British tyranny, Mekatilili was profiled as one of those who forced her people into blood oath administration, especially at the rituals held in July and August, 1913 at Kaya Fungo. History however today recorded Mekatilili as a feminist symbol of resistance, a strong woman from a marginalized ethnicity who challenged oppressive norms of a male-dominated society. In the Giriama resistance to colonial policies which led to the uprising of 1913, Mekatilili played a significant role.

The crossroads where Mekatilili and Akpoti-Uduaghan’s path would seem to have met actually happened at a public baraza (meeting) in Kenya. Mekatilili confronted Arthur Champion, British colonial administrator, swearing never to allow him enlist Giriama youth to work in plantations. Deploying an anecdote to depict the battle ahead, Mekatilili dared Champion to take away the chick from Mother Hen and see Mother Hen’s ferocious resistance.

Since the last one month or so when the initial spatial politics on the floor of the Nigerian senate began, Akpoti-Uduaghan has shown her traducers that they had taken away the chick from Mother Hen. You may not know the orthodoxies which she has thus far challenged, the battles she has resisted and the graphs she has redrawn in the socio-politics of Nigeria. The first graph she re-plotted is one which hitherto assumed that, every beautiful woman is a Segilola prostitute, a chattel and sex symbol. With the multiple battles Natasha has fought in the last one month; the strings – national and international – she has pulled and the upturn of the narratives she has made by internationalizing her battles, Natasha has shown that she possesses more brain than scores of her male colleagues who mark time in the Nigerian parliament. More instructively, she must have shown her constituents who thought her femininity was a drawback that she is a battleaxe stronger than many men.

If you can pull Akpabio to an inner sacristy and ask him what legislative hill he has thus far found most exerting to surmount, he would reveal it is the Natasha turmoil. Before now, if Akpabio was one who mistook the Ibadan Kudeti River for a mere erosion, now, he must have learnt that Kudeti is a raging river which sweeps off its captives in moments of rage. The major orthodoxy that Natasha has thus far succeeded in upturning is that, Akpabio is likely never going to take any person for granted again, regardless of their gender.

When Funmilayo Ransom-Kuti, a head teacher of a local school in Abeokuta, confronted the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Samuel Ladapo Ademola, while fighting the oppressive colonial tax regime, she saw the battle, like Mekatilili, as a feminist symbol of resistance. She thus rose above her marginalized gender to challenge oppressive norms of a male-dominated society. More tellingly, Ransom-Kuti saw the fight against the colonial rule structure as a fight between two gender weapons – the penis and the vagina. Said she: “Idowu, (Aláké) you have used your penis as a mark of authority against us for far too long a time; posturing that you were our husband. Today, however, the table has turned and we are poised to reverse the equation by deploying our vagina as a weapon of conquest to play the role of husband on you… O you former men conquerors, the head of the vagina has sought vengeance.” On January 3, 1949, the Aláké was forced to abdicate the throne. That speech was in part a feminist resistance epistemology. In Ransom-Kuti’s confrontation of an existing status-quo, howbeit unknowingly initially, you can see same picture, though minute, in the battle Natasha waged against Akpabio. She waged same war against the cabal in the senate and the clowns of Kogi State who blithely and brainlessly bungled the process of her recall. The battles are united by a fight for the supremacy of the genitalia, the penises and an apparently irrepressible female organ.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: Now That Natasha Has Made Akpabio Happy

Very seldom is heroism an intended act. Indeed, most heroes transmute from disdain to the dais. Madam Efunroye Tinubu is as an example. In the beginning, she was just an economically influential woman in Lagos during the reigns of three kings, Adele, Dosunmu and Akitoye. However, by virtue of her grips on Lagos economy, Tinubu veered into the stronghold of political power, even assisting kings to gain power. She had a vast trade network of slaves, palm oil, firearms, cotton, tobacco, salt and coconut oil which extended to European merchants. After her exile to Abeokuta, she still helped Egba in the war against Dahomey, supplying them munitions. Even when the British signed the 1852 treaty with Oba Akioye for the abolishment of Atlantic Slave Trade, Tinubu was still covertly trading in her over 360 slaves, which today casts a pall on her heroism. She even attempted to assassinate the British Consul, Benjamin Campbell.

Today, as Mekatilili dared Arthur Champion to take away the chick from Mother Hen and see her ferocious resistance, Natasha is reproducing that trope. Apart from Akpabio, other accomplices of the fight to rout Natasha are feeling the wild push-back of Mother Hen. A petition against Akpabio and Senator Neda Imasuen is pending at the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) to have both disbarred. Yahaya Bello and his sidekick, Ahmed Ododo have met their waterloo in the ferociousness of Mother Hen as she flew into Kogi in a helicopter. There is the tendency for you not to like Natasha’s ultra-boldness and self-assuredness in a patriarchal society like ours where women are expected to be reticent and timid as a cat; her beauty may even bring up to you the shadow of Segilola, but you cannot dismiss her unexampled heroine courage and against-method daring of evil men.

I have come to submit myself to the wisdom in one of legendary Yoruba musician, Ayinla Omowura’s songs, which says, it is not every leaf which the herbalist must pluck, neither should a wine-tapper climb every palm tree. Some leaves are poisonous while on top of some palm trees reside venomous vipers. Does Akpabio now know this?

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OPINION: Nigeria’s ‘Sheikh Of The Slaughters’

Published

8 hours ago

November 25, 2025

Editor

By Suyi Ayodele

The festive period is here, yet one wonders how the sound of fireworks will affect us, given our recent experiences in the hands of terrorists and bandits. I also wonder how the elderly women we saw in the video of the attack and abduction at Eruku town in Kwara State will react to the sound of knockouts this season. This is not the best of times for us. We have never had it this bad. Why does terrorism thrive here, and the government remains flat-footed? Emma Sky provides an answer.

The British adviser to the US military in Iraq states: “Corrupt regimes and terrorists keep each other in business. It’s a symbiotic relationship.” He made this remark while speaking about the connection between terrorists and those in government.

Chapter two of the 270-page book, ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, written by the American journalist, author and news commentator, Michael Weiss and the columnist for UAE-based English daily, The National, Hassan Hassan, (Pg.20, 2015), opened with the above quote ascribed to Sky. The authors took that route to underscore the claims in many quarters that terrorism is not just a mere game but a transactional enterprise between those in power and the agents of death, the terrorists. The sub-title of that chapter, ‘Sheik of the Slaughters’, tells the story more. It is our today’s headline

The cliche: “to win the battle and lose the war”, often used in military circles, is defined as: “to achieve a minor success or victory, but lose or fail to achieve a larger, more important, or overall goal, especially when the larger failure is at least partly due to the smaller victory.” (Collins COBUILD Idioms dictionary, 3rd edition, 2012)

Nigeria, at the moment, presents a stark reversal of the old saying. Here, we have lost the battle and are dangerously close to losing the war. We sure need Deus ex Machina – the Greek plot device – to serve as denouement and rescue the nation. The bitter truth is that despite extensive propaganda about “technically defeating” terrorism, the terrorists are now firmly among us! Unfortunately, our response so far reflects the same predictable, panic-driven approach of previous years!

Our governments – federal, state and local – do not only negotiate with terrorists. Officials at various levels openly associate with them, attend their social functions and take photographs with individuals responsible for widespread loss of life. Not long ago, there was a report that the government paid a particular terrorist group a substantial sum of money to recover a lethal weapon the blood-sucking demons seized from our military. It was at that time that, if left in the hands of the terrorists, the weapon could be used to shoot down our president’s aircraft!

Most states in the North pay terrorists and bandits in order to maintain a semblance of peace. Farmers and other residents in the region also pay these violent groups simply to plant and harvest their crops. When individuals are kidnapped, ransom is paid, depending on the number, the circumstances and their identities, or governments ‘negotiate’ their release. In some instances, we are told that our security agencies “rescued” victims after “exchange of fire with the abductors.”

Nigeria is in ruins! Pardon the sharpness of that expression, but a milder word seems inadequate! We live in fear, perpetually at the mercy of terrorists and bandits. In the past, we slept with both eyes closed. Over time, we learnt to sleep with one eye closed. Today, we hardly sleep at all – and it is not because we suffer from insomnia, but because those more powerful than the State appear to exert control across the nation from the North to South and East to West! The government is battered, those in authority are overwhelmed!

This is not the time to play politics in Nigeria. The nation is in bad shape. Non-state actors are in control of our affairs. Those we entrust our lives to are practically absent. The leaders are in panic mode just as the governed are marooned on the island of insecurity. The iconoclast rapper, Eedris Abdulkareem, did not see anything when he sang Nigeria jaga jaga. Now is the time the protest song is most relevant!

The humanity in us dictates we should pity President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The old fox must have realised the wisdom in the caution of our wise ones that no one should sell gravel as goods. The exchange currency is usually in pebbles, our forebears posit. Today’s power wielders in Nigeria know where what is hitting them comes from. They sold sand as goods to Nigerians and Nigeria in 2014, when they politicised the mass ‘abduction’ of school children. Today, they are being paid in the same coins of pebbles (àwon tó ta ojà iyèpè ti ńgb’owó òkúta). This is sad because we are all victims!

The Yoruba indigenous religion, Ifa, in Oyeku Meji, warns that when the enemies gather to wage war against the all-female-inhabited town, no wise man should join the venture (tí wón bá sí’gun Ìlúbìrin, má bã won lo). I once asked an elder to interpret the caution in that Ifa Corpus. His response is very instructive here. The all-female-inhabited town, Ìlúbìrin the elders said, is always calm like the duck in hibernation (Ìlúbìrin máa ńdáke róró bíi pépéye tó sàba). He explained further that the gentle bird does not fight on its own because it is a bird of the women’s cult. It has an unseen army fighting its battles.

That unseen army is what the elders of my place call èsan (vengeance). The Holy writ, the Bible, says: “vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord” (Deuteronomy:32:35). The gods and humans fight on behalf of the duck (àti ebora àti ènìyàn níí ja ìjà pépéye), the elder concluded. We are tempted to ask the leaders of today if they have ever broken the eggs of a duck in hibernation. If they answered in the affirmative, we would ask them to seek help. They need it!

The event of the last one week have further confirmed that Nigeria has moved from the stage of a failed nation. The country feels non-existent! How do those in power today even sleep at night? What comes to mind when they reflect on the roles they played, directly or indirectly, during the orchestrated Chibok schoolgirls’ ‘abduction’ happened on April 14, 2014? What runs through their minds?

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: Pastor Adeboye, Tinubu, Trump And Truth

When the Chibok incident occurred 11 years ago, some of us believed it was a ruse. We argued that shepherding 276 girls from a school would require more than a mere illusion. We reasoned that the ‘abductors’ must have been extraordinarily well-resourced to feed the children while they were supposedly in captivity. We also noted that securing a location to keep them would not have been a simple undertaking. Furthermore, providing medical care in the so-called Sambisa Forest, where we were told they were taken, would have been an even more daunting challenge.

But we were asked to remain silent! When we insisted that the act would eventually return to haunt the perpetrators, harm the entire nation and injure the innocent – who had no part in the dangerous politicking that led to Chibok, we were told to blame the “clueless” President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Ironically today, those who once silenced us for suggesting that Chibok was a scam, are now the same set of people claiming that the recent series of schoolchildren kidnapping are political weapons aimed at undermining President Tinubu.

The calamity sweeping across the country today is like the proverbial rain – it spares no one. As the elders say, “A thing that is not sufficient is not allowed to go to waste” (ohun tí ò tó, kìí s’òfò). The North of Nigeria is widely regarded as an educationally disadvantaged. Yet, in that same region, 46 unity schools, all owned by the Federal Government, are now completely shut because terrorists are attacking schools across the 19 northern states! Just when it seemed that the problem was confined to the North, a school in Ekiti State – the Federal Technical College (FTC), Usi Ekiti – was also closed! The question now is: where is safe in Nigeria?

The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, Safe School Data, (September 2023), reports stated that 723 schools were closed in the North because of insecurity. A few of the schools, the report added, were shut down because non-state actors (terrorists) and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) occupied the schools’ premises. It listed states such as Adamawa, Benue, Borno, Katsina, Sokoto Yobe and Zamfara as mostly affected.

Yet we expect students in these schools to compete favourably with their counterparts down South. The campaign to bridge the educational gap between the North and the South has been ongoing for generations, championed by Nigerians of goodwill. Sadly, those for whom others undertake great sacrifices are busy enjoying comfort and abundance!

My concern is that ultimately, the misfortune of the North will be spread in equal measure across the Federation. The daily migration of northern young men and woman, from childhood to adulthood, to the South demonstrates that when the North suffers, it invariably drags the South along.

This is why nobody should adopt the attitude of “it is their problem over there.” The North is eating the bad insect today; the attendant whooping cough of that bad habit will give all of us sleepless nights. This is why we must all set politics aside and join hands in the fight against this menace. If a school could be shut down in Ekiti State because of threat of terrorism, no school in the South-West is truly safe. As the saying goes, when a fellow hunter shouts, “it is coming”, our elders advise that we set our nets in readiness for a catch (ó hún bo, ó hún bò, àwòn làá de dèé).

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: US And FFK’s Drum Of War

The last week has been that of great calamity for Nigerians. It was a week the nation lost a two-star General, Brigadier-General Musa Uba and three other officers, killed by terrorists who ‘captured’ them after they survived an earlier ambush. Ask those who know the art of war, and you will be told that for an officer of the rank of a Brigadier-General to die on the battlefield, not a few other officers and other ranks would have gone! But it happened here, and we shoved it aside, facing other calamities.

Within the same week, almost 400 students were ‘kidnapped’ in Niger and Yobe States by terrorists. The same ‘sheik of the slaughters’ also killed no fewer than 68 Nigerians across some states of the North. In Eruku, 38 worshippers in a church were kidnapped and three others killed! While the government of Kwara State announced on Sunday that the 38 victims had been ‘rescued’, a blog in the locality claimed that the government paid close to N200 million before the victims were released. Whom do we believe, whom do we trust?

On the farm or on the way to the stream and in the comfort of our bedrooms, we all live in the fear of terrorists. If we are not the victims today, we assist our kidnapped neighbours and relations in raising the ransom for their release. Those of them who were unfortunate and died in captivity, we organised their funerals. In most extreme cases, we don’t get their corpses to be buried! Whichever way one views it, we are all victims, helpless victims for that matter! The only question on our lips is: how did we get here?

Just as we are grappling with the closure of those 47 unity schools, the governments of Yobe, Adamawa and Taraba States, ordered that all schools – private or public – operating boarding facilities in the states must close them due to the threat of terrorist attacks! What, then, is the fate of the students of these closed boarding schools? Will the West African sub-regional examination body wait for them when it is time to sit for the regional sub-examination? How can we treat our future this shabbily and still expect Nigeria to develop?

From all indications, and I hope President Tinubu gets this: Nigeria has lost the battle. And by the way things are going, we are on the verge of losing the war. When terrorism and banditry started as a battle pre-2014, and the government of President Jonathan wanted to confront it headlong, many of the actors of today’s power frustrated the efforts for political reasons. Notable leaders from the North said fighting Boko Haram was like fighting the North. We accepted their narratives and looked on while the felons overran Nigeria!

Those who travelled as far as the United States to ask for ‘help’ all in the bid to get rid of Jonathan, are now crying because the same US has noticed that Nigeria is not just a “disgraced” country, but a nation in dire need of help! Many of us still don’t understand why the issue of Nigeria’s sovereignty should be paramount now when 11 years ago, the present handlers of our affairs threw that same principle to the wild dogs! The US assisted them into power. Today, the same American Government has indicated that it would, on its own volition, intervene and put an end to the killings in Nigeria.

What is the reaction of the government? A powerful delegation was sent to the US to go and explain that nothing like genocide is happening here! We die in our hundreds, they say it is not genocide! Do we have to wait till there will be nobody to bury the dead before the realisation will dawn on us? Growing up, we were told that the man with a thorn in his foot limps to meet the man holding the blade. The reverse is the case today in Nigeria.

When our swollen pus-infected foot is visible to the world, our leaders say all is well. However, the truth starring us all in the face is that whether America comes or not, the present government here has lost the battle. If it remains lethargic, it will lose the war in a matter of time. When that happens, our leaders will not merely limp, looking for the man with the razor, they will take a dash in their wobbling tracks seeking help. May it not be too late!

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10 Countries With The Strongest Global Reputation In 2025

Published

8 hours ago

November 25, 2025

Editor

In today’s world, countries’ reputation is more than prestige: they shape investment, trade, tourism, and diplomatic influence.

CEOWORLD Magazine’s Global Nations Reputation Index 2026 evaluates 197 economies using 50 key attributes across governance, ethics, innovation, sustainability, and social cohesion. The result is a comprehensive measure of global trust and respect.

Leading the ranking is Singapore, recognized for its stability, innovation, and effective governance, surpassing long-established reputations of Switzerland, Ireland, and Germany.

Here’s a look at the top 10 countries with the strongest global reputation:

1. Singapore (97.83) – Asia

Renowned for policy consistency, transparent governance, and advanced infrastructure. Singapore is a hub of innovation, multicultural inclusion, and neutral diplomacy.

2. Switzerland (97.81) – Europe

Admired for neutrality, financial integrity, high quality of life, and robust institutions. Switzerland is a global standard for stability and innovation.

3. Ireland (97.22) – Europe

Known for economic openness, skilled workforce, and cultural diplomacy. Ireland combines modern business competitiveness with strong social cohesion.

4. Netherlands (96.77) – Europe

Celebrated for progressive policies, sustainability, and global trade leadership. The Netherlands excels in human capital development and innovation.

5. Germany (95.49) – Europe

A powerhouse of industrial and technological innovation, governance, and global influence. Germany maintains a strong reputation for efficiency and reliability.

6. Norway (93.55) – Europe

Respected for social welfare, environmental stewardship, and transparent governance. Norway blends prosperity with high citizen trust and global responsibility.

7. Denmark (93.46) – Europe

Known for quality of life, ethical governance, and sustainability. Denmark consistently ranks high in innovation, education, and societal cohesion.

8. Luxembourg (93.34) – Europe

Small but influential, Luxembourg is admired for economic stability, governance, and financial integrity. It maintains a strong reputation as a safe and prosperous nation.

9. Sweden (92.93) – Europe

Celebrated for social equality, innovation, and environmental leadership. Sweden balances economic competitiveness with progressive policies and human capital development.

10. Liechtenstein (92.79) – Europe

Highly respected for governance, economic stability, and quality of life. Liechtenstein combines a strong financial sector with a reputation for discretion and reliability.

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Edo: Stakeholders Rally To Address Children Trafficking Through Education

Published

8 hours ago

November 25, 2025

Editor

Stakeholders in migration and education gathered in Benin on Tuesday to discuss Mainstreamed TIP Content in the revised National Curriculum, and how best to utilise the new curriculum addressing irregular migration and children trafficking in particular.

The stakeholders, comprising the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD); the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), and Edo State Government held a two-day two-day training of subjects teachers on Mainstreamed TIP Content in the revised National Curriculum code named School Anti-Trafficking Education and Advocacy Project (STEAP).

In her speech, ICMPD Head of Office, Nigeria, Isabelle Wolfsgruber, revealed that over 75% of trafficking victims in West Africa are children, and that Nigeria shares a high percentage, stressing the urgent need for preventive efforts, particularly “within our schools.”

The ICMPD Head of Office, Nigeria, said the rising statistic underscores the urgent need to “leverage education as a powerful tool to prevent trafficking.”

Her speech, which was read by Favour Simeon, ICMPD, Wolfsgruber expressed optimism that at the end of the training, the teachers would have been equipped, and by extension, the “larger school community with knowledge about the risks of trafficking, how to recognize warning signs, and strategies to stay safe.”

The Head, Nigeria Office, ICMPD, who disclosed that 150 teachers drawn from 50 schools across the state were captured for the training, added: “That is why we have organized this two -day training workshop for subject teachers from selected schools in Edo State. Through this training, teachers will gain practical skills to apply the curriculum
effectively while fostering safe and supportive classrooms that protect children from harm.

“The training aims to equip teachers with a thorough understanding of human trafficking, practical skills to deliver the national approved curriculum effectively, and the capacity to act as child protection advocates, fostering safe, supportive, and collaborative school environments.”

On her part, Director-General NAPTIP, Binta Bello, who said trafficking in Persons remains “one of the gravest human rights violations confronting Nigeria today,” emphasised the need for collective effort to “safeguard the future of our children and strengthen the national response to human trafficking through education.”

The DG, who was represented by Hassan Tahri, added: “The statistics are deeply troubling-children account for more than 55 percent of identified victims.”

In his speech, Edo State Commissioner for Education, Dr. Paddy Iyamu, while lamenting that “Edo State has, in the past, been significantly affected by the devastating consequences of human trafficking,” however, noted that “tremendous progress has been made in recent years, we must continue to consolidate our gains by strengthening education-driven prevention mechanisms.”

Iyamu, while stating that “education remains the most powerful tool for shaping values, informing decision-making, and protecting the next generation from exploitation,”
promised that his ministry will continue to “reinforce our State’s preventive strategies and expand the impact of our anti-trafficking interventions in schools.”

“This training is not just another workshop—it is a strategic investment in the human infrastructure that supports our fight against Trafficking in Persons (TIP),” he said.